Crane Designs~ Arizona
(Marian Crane)

Grey Primer
By Marian Crane
Tempe, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2011. Edition of 3.

4.25 x 4.25"; 8 pages. Modified accordion structure. Fabric painted linen. Cotton batik appliqué. Softcovers of batik accented with cotton embroidery thread and glass beads.

Marian Crane: "Each book showcases four different greys (green-grey, brown-grey, blue-grey, and purple-grey) mixed from complementary colors along with botanical vignettes painted in each grey."
$175

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Blue Glass
By Marian Crane
Scottsdale, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2008. One-of-a-Kind.

5 x 4"; 12 pages. Materials: linen, cotton, leather, glass, polyester, acrylic, paint, bronze foil. Cloth pages accented with bead and thread tassels. Painted leather covers with wooden spine accented with beads and tassels.

Marian Crane: "A meditation that began with the sight of Rose Windows in cathedrals, and expanded to contrast our reactions to natural and manmade beauty."
$900

Jade Lands
By Marian Crane
Scottsdale, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2008. One-of-a-Kind.

5.25 x 2"; 56 pages. Paper: Somerset Rag. Materials: nylon, glass, bone, poplar wood, Daniel Smith watercolor. Bound in poplar boards with exposed thread spine binding.

Marian Crane: "Most of my books have been fabric, but I recently played with the Jadeite watercolor from Daniel Smith. The idea of gemstones ground into paint was intriguing, and led to a few dozen doodles on 2" x 10" strips of rag paper: landscapes, textile patterns, leaves, flowers, abstracted city maps. The best of these I bound with a modified Coptic binding and poplar boards."
$375

Star Map
By Marian Crane
Tempe, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2004. Edition of 3.

3.2 x 3.2 x 1" using lindenwood, cream linen cloth, black and pale green linen thread, glass beads, luminescent paint and thread. The boards are shielded behind three coats of Delta Ceramcoat and a UV-protectant film. The black text has swirls of glow paint and glow thread. The glow-in-the-dark thread is rated as washer and dryer safe, and sold primarily for decoration on kid's clothes. Because these are handmade each one in the edition is slightly different.

The Latin phrase "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is usually translated as "by rough road, to the stars" - through hardship, toward success and renown. Marian Crane decided it could be a message of hope and endurance to mark the start of a new year.

Under normal light, the linen pages appear in different shades of pale green, cream, and black. When moved from strong light into darkness it becomes "a swirling map of stars, magnetic currents, geometric designs, and plantforms." In this light the book becomes a fantasy view of unknown space.
$425 (Last Copy)

Wait
By Marian Crane
Scottsdale, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2004. One-of-a-Kind.

3" high, 5.5" wide, 2" deep; 8 pages. Wenge wood, walnut, leather, dyed linen fabric, printed cotton fabric, cotton embroidery thread, brown linen thread, glass and porcelain beads, rock crystal, acrylic paint. Wooden covers inlaid with rock crystal gems over hand-painted vignettes illustrating the text. Anchored by two tassels of brown, blue, and white handblown glass beads and Chinese porcelain beads. Primary colors: dark brown, blue, white.

Marian Crane: "Four embroidered and appliqué pages hold an 8-line poem about companionship and aging."
$850

Shangri La
By Marian Crane
Tempe, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2010. One-of-a-Kind.

5 x 5 x 1.25" (closed) map fold book. Painted, embroidered, and beaded linen. Backed with pieced cotton batik. Needlepoint and fabric appliqué covers. Adornments of beaded poly cord fringe.

Marian Crane: "Depicts a lush mountain valley in the fall, with golden trees against a backdrop of blue and white peaks."

With the map fold structure, Shangri La bursts forth with surprising beauty, and disappears with surprising ease.
(SOLD)

Western Windows
By Marian Crane
Tempe, Arizona: Crane Designs, 2009. Edition of 3 Variants.

6.25 x 2.25 x 2"; 12 fabric pages. Leather covers, glass and stone accents. Fabric appliqué with hand-drawn topographic maps, fabric accents, and fragments of commercial map-printed cotton.

The Western Windows series by Marian Crane consists of three sensual journals, each with the same basic format but each unique. They record imaginary travel by someone steeped in the colors and textures of a large swathe of the US Southwest.

Marian Crane: "[This series] chronicles imaginary road trips based on U.S. atlases and Route 66 travel postcards."

Western Windows 1: Sedona to Santa Fe (SOLD)
Western Windows 2: Tahoe to Taos (SOLD)
Western Windows 3: Durango to Dallas (SOLD)